Tag Archives: fantomah

ChapterHouse Announces $1.99 Issues and $9.99 Trades

Toronto-based comics publisher Chapterhouse Publishing has announced a new pricing structure for its Chapterverse range of superhero titles, with every monthly comic priced at $1.99 US, and all trade paperback collections priced at $9.99 US!

The new $1.99 price point applies to all Chapterverse titles in 2018, including Captain Canuck, Fantomah, Freelance, and The Pitiful Human Lizard.

The change in pricing is a being driven by the tough competition in the comic market and the hope is that this decrease in cover price will remove the barrier for consumers to purchase the comics. The change is also driven by a decrease in production costs. The company has grown enough that printing costs have decreased in what’s described as a “sizeable savings” from the printer. This savings is being passed along to retailers and consumers.

This price point also means that readers can read the entire universe line of comics for $4 to $6 a month.

Chapterhouse is creating an accessible superhero universe with heroes for every kind of reader, from the classic adventure of Captain Canuck to the horror of Fantomah, and from the humour of Pitiful Human-Lizard to the globetrotting action of Freelance.

The $1.99 initiative kicks off in January 2018 with the second seasons of two of Chapterhouse’s most acclaimed titles; Freelance, starring gay superhero Lance Valiant, and Fantomah, featuring a revival of the Golden Age horror icon. The $1.99 price also applies to the new 2018 seasons of Captain Canuck, Pitiful Human-Lizard, Fallen Suns, Northguard, and two new titles to be announced next year.

The $9.99 trade paperback price will apply to the entire Chapterverse line, including Captain Canuck: Aleph, Captain Canuck: Gauntlet, Captain Canuck: Harbinger, The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Far From Legendary, The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Still Pretty Pathetic, Freelance: Angel of the Abyss, and Fantomah: Up From The Deep.

Chapterhouse offers a publishing model unlike anyone else in comics. All Chapterverse titles run in four-issue seasons, and each season stands on its own, with no crossovers or stunts. Each $9.99 trade paperback collection will be released and distributed through Diamond Books before the next season begins, so it’s always easy for readers to catch up without breaking the bank.

Chapterhouse Comics Launches a Canadian Superhero World

Captain.Canuck 1 coverAt Fan Expo this past weekend, Chapterhouse Comics announced they were launching the “Chapterverse,” a comic superhero universe featuring Canadian superheroes. Already the company has three series, Captain Canuck, The Pitiful Human Lizard, and Northguard, but will be launching a new series featuring the character Freelance, a modern take on one of Canada’s oldest original heroes, with Jim Zub and Andrew Wheeler co-writing, and art by Vaneda Vireak.

Zub has described their take on Freelance as a globe-trotting adventurer, kicking butt and exploring mysteries hidden from the world.

Also joining the world is Fantomah, a character in the public domain is credited as the first female comic character with superpowers.

There’ll also be a series called Agents of Pact about an all-woman super team featuring Red Coat and Kébec.We’ll see the new universe bloom in 2017.

We’ll see the new universe bloom in 2017.

 

Comics Herstory: Fantomah, the First Comic Superheroine

FantomahThough female characters have appeared in comics since the very beginning. While the medium evolved and men became superheroes, women were generally portrayed as secondary characters and relegated to roles like career girls, or heroines for romance comics. It’s believed that it wasn’t until 1940 before women took the role of superhero.

Currently, it looks like the first female superhero is Fantomah who made her debut in Jungle Comics #2 in February 1940 from Fiction House and by the pseudonymous “Barclay Flagg.”

Created by Fletcher Hanks, aka Barclay Flagg, and after her debut she continued as a backup feature in the comic until issue #51, over four years later. Hanks only wrote her for a little over a year and was succeeded by a writer with another pseudonym H.B. Hovious with art credited to Robert Pious.

fantomah 2There were two versions of the character. The first was a women with supernatural powers who protected the jungle and would inflict harm an anyone who hurt its people or animals. When she uses her power she transformers with her turning blue and her face looking like a skull, though her blond hair remained. She had a lot of magical abilities and they changed based on the plot of the story. But she was able to fly, transform objects, levitate objects, humans would mutate, you name it.

A second version of the character was created by Hovious and artist George Appel. That version debuted in Jungle Comics #27 in March 1942 and the difference was she was an ancient Egyptian princess who was revived to protect the jungle.

The character isn’t completely lost to history. She appeared as recently as 2011 in Hack/Slash #5.

You can read her adventures through Comic Book Plus. She debuts on page 60.